Abstract

The Single European Market (SEM) and the possibility of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) present the constituent regions of Europe with a powerful challenge. What this paper argues is that activating the liberal assumptions of the SEM and the fiscal criteria of the Maastricht Treaty will not reduce regional inequality. In the absence of fiscal activism at a regional level, reliance on market forces will only exacerbate the existing core–periphery structure of Europe's regions. The paper attempts to extend its analysis of regional fiscal developments in Western Europe by suggesting some speculative lessons for the Eastern European economies.